Difference between revisions of "Cucumber"

<p> (n.) A creeping plant, and its fruit, of several species of the genus Cucumis, esp. Cucumis sativus, the unripe fruit of which is eaten either fresh or picked. Also, similar plants or fruits of several other genera. See below. </p>

<p> '''''kū´kum''''' -'''''bẽr''''' ( קשׁאים , <i> '''''ḳishshu'ı̄m''''' </i> ; σίκυος , <i> '''''sı́kuos''''' </i> ): One of the articles of food for which [[Israel]] in the wilderness looked back with longing to [[Egypt]] (Numbers 11:5 ). [[Cucumbers]] are great favorites with all the people of Palestine. Two varieties occur, <i> Cucumis sativus </i> (Arabic, <i> '''''Khyār''''' </i> ), originally a product of Northwest India, which is smooth-skinned, whitish and of delicate flavor, and requires much water in its cultivation, and <i> Cucumis chate </i> (Arabic, <i> '''''faqqūs''''' </i> ), which is long and slender but less juicy than the former. [[Probably]] the Biblical reference is to this latter as it is a plant much grown in Egypt where it is said to attain unusual excellence. </p> <p> A "garden of cucumbers" or more literally a "place of cucumbers" ( <i> '''''miḳshāh''''' </i> ), is mentioned in Isaiah 1:8; [[Baruch]] 6:70. "A lodge in a garden of cucumbers" (Isaiah 1:8 ) is the rough wooden booth erected by the owner from which he keeps guard over his ripening vegetables. It is commonly raised upon poles and, when abandoned for the season, it falls into decay and presents a dreary spectacle of tottering poles and dead leaves. </p>

<p> is the translation of קַשֻּׁא, kishshu' (so called probably from its difficulty of digestion; Sept. σίκυος ), in our Auth. Vers., and the correctness of this rendering has been almost universally admitted. It occurs in Numbers 11:5, where the Israelites, when in the desert, express their longings for the melons and the cucumbers of Egypt. The Hebrews is so similar to the Arabic kissa that there can be very little doubt of their both meaning the same thing. [[Celsus]] (Hierobot . 2:247) gives keta, kati, and kusaia as different pronunciations of the same word in different Oriental languages. It does not follow that these names always indicate exactly the same species, since in the different countries they would probably be applied to the kinds of cucumber most common, or perhaps to those which were most esteemed in particular localities. Thus, in [[Egypt]] (see Prosp. Alpin, Plantt. AEg. c. 38, p. 54), the name kati appears to be applied to the species which is called Cucumis chate by botanists, and "queen of cucumbers" by Hasselquist, who describes it as the most highly esteemed of all those cultivated in Egypt (Trav. p. 258). See MELON. In [[India]] the name kissa is applied by the Mohammedans to the Cucumus utilissimus, or the common kukree of the natives, while in [[Persia]] and [[Syria]] the same name would probably be applied only to the common cucumber, or Cucumis sativus, as the two preceding species are not likely to be much known in either country. The [[Talmudists]] (Maaser. 1:4; Terumoth, 2:6; 6:6; [[Baba]] Mez. 7:5) have קַשּׁוֹת, and the Phoenicians had the word Κουσίμεζαρ (Diosc. 4:152), which is probably. Xrp מצר קשא, "cucumber of Egypt"=σίκυς ἄγριος . The same name for cucumber exists in all cognate languag </p>